The Sabres hope to have Eichel, Reinhart and Sheary in the lineup

Columbus, OH (WGR 550) - The Sabres had an optional skate on Saturday. The three players that missed Friday’s practice all took part. Phil Housley said he’s still pretty sure that Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Conor Sheary can play against the Blue Jackets, but he wanted to speak with the trainers after the skate. I asked Eichel and he said he felt great and will play.

Linus Ullmark gets the call in goal. The kid has had two excellent starts shutting out Arizona on 36 shots and beating Los Angeles 5-1 making 19 saves. Overall Ullmark is 2-0-0 with a 0.50 goals against and .982 save percentage.

If none of those three players have to sit, the rest of the lineup will be the same.

Jeff Skinner has been red hot during this three game winning streak. The speedy winger has four goals and four assists for eight points in four games. Eichel has four assists in three games and their right winger Jason Pominville has three goals and three assists for six points in three games.

The Sabres have 87 shots on goal in their last two games. That has vaulted them to 24th in the NHL.

When was the last time I could say the Sabres are ranked 13th in the NHL with a .600 points percentage?

The Blue Jackets are 5-4-0 this season, but have not gotten good goaltending. Joonas Korpisalo will be between the pipes against the Sabres. He’s 3-0-0 with a 3.30 goals against and .898 save percentage. He won his last two starts, but gave up four goals in both of them. Overall the Jackets are 27th on defense giving up 3.78 goals per game.

Leading scorer Antemi Panarin hasn’t scored a goal in five games, but he has five assists in those games.

Seth Jones is back from the injury he suffered in the preseason game against the Sabres. He has one assist and has played over 22 minutes in both games.

Cam Atkinson has eight points in nine games.

Columbus is ninth in scoring averaging a healthy 3.44 goals per game.

Join Brian Koziol for the pregame at 6:00 when he’ll be joined by Phil Housley, Johan Larsson and Tage Thompson. I realize Thompson is likely a healthy scratch, but I wanted to check in with him and let him tell you how he is handling things.